Development of a PC-based expert system for lower urinary tract pressure-flow studies

Summary An on-line personal computer (PC)-based expert system was constructed for pressure-flow study of the lower urinary tract. An empty expert-system shell and supplementary programs were used for this system; the latter served to compensate the defects of the shell and are referred to as data programs in this report. The data programs were written in the C programming language and were used for on-line data sampling, data entry using a photoscanner, calculation of parameters, saving and loading of data, graphic display, and printing. The urodynamic pressure-flow expert system necessitates on-line data transfer, since it requires a large volume of data. However, off-line data recorded on paper was also made available for ready input by a photoscanner. Reasonable diagnostic accuracy has been achieved by our new expert system for pressure-flow studies. It should be useful in the clinical setting as well as for teaching urological students.Presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the International Continence Society, Ljubljana, 1989, and published elsewhere as an abstract (Neurourol Urodyn 8:409–410)